Gregg Bautista has only been painting for a few years, but you would never know it from his work.

The 29-year-old Newark artist’s latest exhibition is an ambitious deconstruction of sociopolitical issues and aesthetics. "Convenient Plasticities," on display at Gateway Project Spaces through Sept. 1, features new paintings that were created with innovative sourcing techniques. The show’s title refers to Bautista’s process, and his position in relation to the work.

"I have the privileged knowledge of the material I’m using," he said. "Any sort of manipulation contextually or physically, the plasticity of the medium or these ideas, is convenient for me because I am the author."

Bautista’s paintings display a kinetic fluidity, overflowing with sharp imagery and psychedelic patterns. He emphasizes the visceral nature of metaphysical space through color and form, blending abstraction and figuration into a hypnotic hybrid of genres. To accomplish this, he uses oil, watercolor and acrylic paints on wood and canvas.

"Hidden In Your Depths Lie The Fossils of You" by Gregg Bautista(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

A native of Toms River, Bautista’s first foray into art involved local bands in the Asbury Park music scene. He created illustrations and designs for indie rock groups such as Accidental Seabirds and No More Pain, without any previous professional training.

He studied fine art at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, where he first developed painting skills. Starting with figurative works, he transitioned to the new medium by applying his experience in illustration and design. But over time, he branched out to the abstract realm, exploring different dimensions of his creativity.

After further development, Bautista re-incorporated figuration into his pieces, but differently. He began printing open-source images and making three-dimensional paper models, re-creating them with paint on flat surfaces. He also references historical art, along with photos and paintings he made himself. The end result could be described as "interdimensional," a manipulation of form and color that deliberately skews perceptions of time and space.

In his wooden panel paintings, Bautista alters the colors of his disparate sources to be more in tune with the overall surfaces. But in larger canvas paintings, he ensures that colors speak to each other through the different images, with just the right amount of tension. These works depict an optical dissonance, leading the viewer to explore the many layers.

Detail from "A History of Convenient Plasticity" by Gregg Bautista(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

The subject matter of "Convenient Plasticities" involves politics, culture, race and body identity. The artist claims his work is a reaction to ways public figures and politicians manipulate narratives for their own benefits. Bautista’s method, however, places the emphasis on the viewer. He explains this concept through example.

An untitled mural by Gregg Bautista(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

"If you take a public square, intended to be a place of recreation, a place of gathering, you involve politics and it becomes a place to disseminate information," he said. "It can become a place of protest and rioting. Therefore, the events are defining the use of the space, but the space is also defining the role of the people occupying it."

It is in that area of thinking, of how these forces influence each other, that the artist has developed his own style. Bautista juxtaposes charged images, such as photos of Aleppo in Syria and various impoverished neighborhoods, with other images of dissimilar subject matter. Through juxtaposition, he redefines the purpose of the images to create new meanings. This process could be described as manipulation beyond recognition.

"I’m looking to take away the context of them so that in the new final space, the viewer in exploring it creates a new context or narrative themselves," he said. "Instead of recontextualizing images, I’m decontextualizing."

Detail from "haunt/haunt" by Gregg Bautista(Photo: Courtesy of the artist)

"Convenient Plasticities" is rich with artistic integrity and thematic consistency, showing Bautista’s intuitive reactions to society and culture. The results are original and extraordinary.

In the past, Bautista has exhibited at EFA Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop in New York, as well as a few Brooklyn and New Brunswick galleries. To see more of his work, follow @greggbautista on Instagram or visit www.greggbautista.com.